The Falfurrias Newshttp://thefalfurriasnews.com
Online News for Falfurrias and all of Brooks CountyFri, 17 Jun 2016 18:12:48 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.12Migrants Rescued at Falfurrias Checkpointhttp://thefalfurriasnews.com/2016/06/17/migrants-rescued-falfurrias-checkpoint/
Fri, 17 Jun 2016 18:12:48 +0000http://thefalfurriasnews.com/?p=693From KSAT: U.S. Border Patrol agents rescued six people Tuesday evening from a trunk and tractor-trailer in separate incidents at the Falfurrias checkpoint. Border Patrol officials said a driver of a Chevy Malibu became nervous when an agent asked the driver to open the trunk of the car. Two illegal immigrants were locked inside the […]

U.S. Border Patrol agents rescued six people Tuesday evening from a trunk and tractor-trailer in separate incidents at the Falfurrias checkpoint.

Border Patrol officials said a driver of a Chevy Malibu became nervous when an agent asked the driver to open the trunk of the car. Two illegal immigrants were locked inside the trunk, where the temperature was 101 degrees, officials said.

The driver and a female passenger, both U.S. citizens, were arrested.

In a separate incident, four illegal immigrants were found under the bed of the storage compartment during a secondary inspection of a tractor-trailer. A K-9 alerted agents to the immigrants, officials said.

]]>Letty Liked the Linershttp://thefalfurriasnews.com/2016/06/16/letty-liked-liners/
Thu, 16 Jun 2016 21:17:55 +0000http://thefalfurriasnews.com/?p=688from the Caller: Falfurrias Mayor Pro Tem Leticia Garza was a staunch advocate of the 8-liner game rooms in Falfurrias. She even told businessmen from the Rio Grande Valley about a time she rushed out of the hospital to cast a vote in favor of the game rooms. “If I wouldn’t have been there, they […]

Falfurrias Mayor Pro Tem Leticia Garza was a staunch advocate of the 8-liner game rooms in Falfurrias. She even told businessmen from the Rio Grande Valley about a time she rushed out of the hospital to cast a vote in favor of the game rooms.

“If I wouldn’t have been there, they would have shut them down,” Garza told them.

However, Garza wasn’t talking to businessmen. She was talking to undercover federal agents in “Operation Fal Vegas,” who sought to prove the game rooms were operating illegally and that Garza encouraged the activity.

Garza pleaded guilty in federal court June 6 to aiding and abetting illegal gambling businesses. She faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Garza was a frequent patron at the game rooms and owners let her play for free, according to recorded hearing obtained by the Caller-Times. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos will sentence Garza on Sept. 22.

Game rooms began popping up in Falfurrias around 2009. By 2015, there were twelve operating in the city. In her plea hearing, Garza admitted using her influence to keep them open.

When undercover agents visited Garza, they expressed interest in opening their own game room. Garza drove the agents around, pointed out potential locations for their prospective business and told them what they needed to be successful, prosecutors said.

When the agents offered her $1,000 to help get their permits approved, she declined, and asked the agents to wait until the next local election. When the agents countered with $2,000, she accepted the money and later told the agents they would make “good partners,” according to prosecutors.

Agents raided each game room May 31, 2015, and seized $4.9 million. Garza turned herself in to authorities the next day.

Garza later admitted to agents she knew the game rooms were operating illegally, but said the town benefitted from the businesses.

She would solicit game rooms to donate to several causes, including financing travel expenses for Little League and basketball teams and an Easter egg hunt, prosecutors said.

A former mayor also told agents Garza led the charge to start a youth fund that was made up entirely of money from the game rooms in hopes of winning the public’s support. Garza mentioned the fund to the undercover agents, telling them she “didn’t want negativity from people who didn’t want the game rooms,” according to prosecutors. Garza’s attorney declined to comment about the hearing.

Interim City Administrator Samuel Maldonado did not return calls seeking comment on whether city officials plan to replace Garza. The regular city meeting scheduled Wednesday has been postponed in lieu of a special meeting, according to a notice signed by City Clerk Melinda R. Garza. No agenda has been posted for the special meeting, which will be Thursday evening at the Falfurrias Police Department.

]]>Four Jailed for Shooting in Falfurriashttp://thefalfurriasnews.com/2016/06/16/four-jailed-shooting-falfurrias/
Thu, 16 Jun 2016 14:19:03 +0000http://thefalfurriasnews.com/?p=686From the Caller-Times: Falfurrias police arrested a man Tuesday in connection with the drive-by shooting death of a 26-year-old man Sunday night. Eliazar Garcia, 19, was arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of Omar Rivas. Police said Garcia was driving a pickup in the 800 block of South St. Marys Street when Juan […]

Falfurrias police arrested a man Tuesday in connection with the drive-by shooting death of a 26-year-old man Sunday night.

Eliazar Garcia, 19, was arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of Omar Rivas. Police said Garcia was driving a pickup in the 800 block of South St. Marys Street when Juan Cervantes, 22, positioned himself out of the passenger window and shot at the vehicle Rivas was in.

Rivas was struck in the neck and was pronounced dead at the scene just before 7 p.m., police said. Cervantes turned himself in Monday at the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office, and police said they found Garcia at a family member’s house outside the city limits.

Police said they also arrested two people for another drive-by shooting that happened earlier Sunday. Adriana Quintanilla, 43, was arrested Monday on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Roberto Garcia Jr., 30, was arrested Tuesday and faces the same charge.

Police said Garcia Jr. and Quintanilla were in a red Dodge Charger following a brown Chevy Malibu in the 200 block of East Noble Sunday night. Shots were fired at the Charger, but no injuries were reported. The driver identified the pair as the people following him in the Malibu, police said.

Police said they believe the incidents are connected and gang-related. The weapons had not been found Wednesday, police said.

Bail was set at $200,000 for Eliazar Garcia and Cervantes, and $50,000 for Roberto Garcia Jr. and Quintanilla. Quintanilla posted bond Tuesday and was released from the Brooks County Jail, police said. The three men remained in jail Wednesday, officials said.

]]>Fracking and the Drug Tradehttp://thefalfurriasnews.com/2014/05/18/fracking-drug-trade/
Sun, 18 May 2014 20:07:49 +0000http://thefalfurriasnews.com/?p=681Unintended consequence of the fracking boom is the change in the drug trafficking landscape. Great write-up in the National Journal. Head north from the border city of Laredo, and the wide freeways dwindle to two-lane roadways flanked by the brush and mesquite trees that fill the vast ranch lands. Just five years ago, perhaps a […]

]]>Unintended consequence of the fracking boom is the change in the drug trafficking landscape. Great write-up in the National Journal.

Head north from the border city of Laredo, and the wide freeways dwindle to two-lane roadways flanked by the brush and mesquite trees that fill the vast ranch lands.

Just five years ago, perhaps a dozen vehicles per day would be traveling on the even smaller, private roads that cut directly through the big ranches here, according to the federal Border Patrol. Today, thanks to surging oil and gas production in this Eagle Ford Shale region, they can number in the hundreds.

The fracking boom has also been a lesson in unintended consequences: The web of roads that the energy industry has built or paved on once-desolate ranches has created avenues for smugglers to move drugs they’ve brought from Mexico around the inland Border Patrol checkpoints.

The heavy truck traffic in this newly industrialized zone provides chances to stash drugs in vehicles disguised as industry trucks and blend in. That has left law enforcement scrambling to adapt to a radically altered landscape that’s now buzzing with activity, including by relying on partnerships with the oil and gas industry.

And that’s a big reason why the oil and gas drilling boom that’s transforming the U.S. into an energy superpower has also, more quietly, reshaped how Customs and Border Protection agents do business in this region of southern Texas.

“It has changed us and what we do,” says agent Ricardo Aguirre of the Border Patrol.

In the handful of years since the Eagle Ford Shale took off, traffickers moving dope for the powerful Zetas and Gulf cartels have been using the development as subterfuge to move marijuana and other drugs.

Charles Goslin, a retired CIA officer now with the security services company Butchko, said agents who have already “got their hands full with the border and a handful of checkpoints on key arteries” in the region must now contend with these new opportunities for smugglers. “They are doing the best that they can, but it is a huge area,” he said.

A draft 2014 “threat assessment” from a branch of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, a nationwide federal program that aids federal, state, and local agencies, goes like this: “[I]nfrastructure for drug trafficking organizations has … unintentionally been enhanced.”

But the influx of new development cuts both ways in fighting drug trafficking and other illicit activity.

Thousands of workers who have poured into the booming Eagle Ford Shale region are providing new eyes and ears—a “force multiplier,” as one official says—for the border cops looking for drug and human smuggling.

Aguirre, a “ranch liaison” officer, is philosophical about the mix of problems and opportunities the drilling boom has created for agents trying to catch some of the drugs and undocumented immigrants coming from Mexico.

“It’s sort of the yin to the yang, right?” he says while moving through the 50,000-acre Galvan Ranch, a single plot bigger than Washington, D.C., that’s now dotted with energy-development sites.

“We have increased traffic here and there’s increased people traversing through here and trying to get through,” Aguirre says on a mild Wednesday morning in early May. “But by the same token we also have an increased number of eyes out there to report any illicit activities.”

The collaboration with industry has taken several forms. There’s an 800 number for oil-field workers to report sketchy behavior to the Border Patrol. Signs on ranches contain GPS data to help witnesses report their position. And authorities hold outreach meetings and presentations for industry on safety in the region.

The Border Patrol even has a catchy name for the work with the oil and gas industry: the “Integrated Frontline Resources Awareness Campaign,” or iFRAC, which intentionally sounds like, yes, fracking.

“For us [the Eagle Ford boom] has brought certainly some opportunities for great partnerships,” said Matthew Hudak, the division chief of operations for the Border Patrol’s Laredo sector. But he’s no Pollyanna: “It has also been a challenge in terms of just the overall growth and expansion within these areas.”

Law enforcement identified the threat a few years ago and have made some notable busts. On the morning of November 25, 2013, agents found 5,616 pounds of marijuana (valued at nearly $4.5 million) hidden in a truck servicing industry development.

Or early March 2012. That’s when agents in neighboring Dimmit County stopped two trucks in a single day carrying a total of 18,665 pounds of marijuana on a ranch road used by energy companies.

Hudak said his agency’s collaboration with the industry is directly responsible for the seizure of 9 tons of marijuana in the neighboring Laredo and Del Rio sectors—which are the border units close to drilling action—over the last year and a half or so.

To be sure, that’s just a fraction of what agents are seizing overall on and around the border. In fiscal 2013, the Laredo and Del Rio sectors seized nearly 230,000 pounds of marijuana combined.

But law enforcement can only measure what they seize. How much is getting through is harder to figure. Asked whether the Eagle Ford development is enabling an overall increase in what’s coming through the region, Hudak says that’s “difficult to measure.”

The Eagle Ford’s newfound cat-and-mouse game between drug smugglers and the Border Patrol is indicative of how thoroughly the oil and gas boom has reordered life in the Eagle Ford region—one of a handful of areas that have sent U.S. oil and natural-gas production surging in recent years.

Development of the U.S. side of the Eagle Ford shale formation, which sweeps 400 miles from the border inland into East Texas, has exploded over the past half decade. Oil production is nearly 1.4 million barrels per day, up from less than 100,000 barrels five years ago, while gas production has surged as well.

According to Texas state regulators, over 13,000 drilling permits were issued between 2010 and March of this year.

The opportunities for using the development as cover have been on the radar screen of law enforcement for a few years. “The FBI is aware of attempts to use oil-field-type cloned vehicles to smuggle illegal drugs and we have worked investigations involving this criminal activity,” spokeswoman Michelle Lee said.

Multiple threat assessments from region’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas have been identifying the problem too.

It’s even a challenge outside the Eagle Ford region of southern Texas itself. The draft 2014 assessment from the Houston-area HIDTA notes that “because of its close proximity, [drug trafficking organizations] that operate within the Houston HIDTA are exploiting this region to their advantage.”

Beyond the new drug smuggling pathways, the Eagle Ford growth also means oilfield workers and undocumented immigrants are crossing paths more often.

“They are going to see them. It is not a question of whether or not they will. It’s when, or how many times,” says Frederico Martinez, another ranch liaison officer. “One of the big issues we have is how to explain where they are at in reference to where they saw the subjects.”

It doesn’t quite work, he adds, for oilfield workers to simply note that “they were sitting under a mesquite tree.”

When it comes to drugs, not everyone is convinced Eagle Ford offers such a rich opportunity for smugglers.

One industry worker, asked about the idea, said companies know well who is supposed to be at a development site, not to mention the gate guards and other precautions. It’s just not that easy to blend in, he argues.

“They would have to be pretty slick,” said Edward Miller, a sales representative with Integrated Production Services, which specializes in well completions and other services. “It’s not impossible, but they would have to be very sophisticated.”

Andres Zamarripa, an officer with the Webb County sheriff’s department, believes Border Patrol has done an “outstanding job.”

But he also notes what the cartels have going for them: endless budgets, and the labor scramble that means people working in the Eagle Ford who may be susceptible to bribes for looking the other way to allow vehicles into a ranch.

“These smaller oilfield service companies need employees,” he said. “They have got to get labor force no matter what. So they are going to hire a guy that’s got a bad record.”

Still, Zamarripa notes that “Eagle Ford is just one cover” of multiple ways to move dope. “It’s just another tool for them to use,” Zamarripa said. “Way before Eagle Ford existed, it was coming across by the ton, and it’s still coming across by the ton.”

]]>Will Fracking Boom End Sooner Than Expected?http://thefalfurriasnews.com/2013/11/03/will-fracking-boom-end-sooner-than-expected/
Mon, 04 Nov 2013 01:44:34 +0000http://thefalfurriasnews.com/2013/11/03/will-fracking-boom-end-sooner-than-expected/Interesting article in USA Today about diverging opinions on the longevity of the shale boom. Surging oil and gas production is nudging the nation closer to energy independence. But new research suggests the boom could peter out long before the United States reaches this decades-old goal. Many wells behind the energy gush are quickly losing […]

]]>Interesting article in USA Today about diverging opinions on the longevity of the shale boom.

Surging oil and gas production is nudging the nation closer to energy independence. But new research suggests the boom could peter out long before the United States reaches this decades-old goal.

Many wells behind the energy gush are quickly losing productivity, and some areas could hit peak levels sooner than the U.S. government expects, according to analyses presented last week at a Geological Society of America meeting in Denver.

“It’s a temporary bonanza,” says J. David Hughes, an energy expert at the Post Carbon Institute, a research group focused on sustainability. He studied two of the nation’s largest shale rock formations, now the source of huge amounts of oil and gas, and said they could start declining as early as 2016 or 2017.

The reason: “sweet spots” — small areas with the highest yields. Hughes says these spots simply don’t last long. Unless more wells are drilled, the Bakken shale of North Dakota and Montana loses 44% of its production after a year and the Eagle Ford shale of Texas, 34%. Most of the nation’s major shale regions produce both oil and gas.

“You have to keep drilling more and more just to maintain production,” says Hughes, adding this can become too costly to be profitable. He notes oil production in the Bakken, which skyrocketed between 2008 and 2012, has already started to slow down and Eagle’s Ford may soon follow. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects both shale plays will hit their oil peak in 2020, declining afterward.

Taking a similarly pessimistic view is Charles Hall, professor at the State University of New York, Syracuse and author of Energy and the Wealth of Nations. His analysis of Bakken production, now accounting for nearly a third of all U.S. oil from shale, found almost all its oil comes from just a few “sweet spots.” He also cited EIA data that show gas production has been falling since mid-2012 in the Barnett of Texas and the Haynesville of Texas and Louisiana.

Others see brighter prospects for the U.S. shale boom, which is largely due to the recent combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing or fracking. This controversial process extracts copious amounts of gas or oil — known as “tight oil” — from shale rock by blasting it apart with a water mixture, laced with chemicals, that’s pumped underground. It has raised environmental concerns, because studies have linked it to potential groundwater contamination, minor earthquakes and other problems.

Fracking has transformed the U.S. energy industry. It’s a major reason why the nation’s total production of crude oil has increased since 2008, reversing a decline that began in 1986, and lowered petroleum imports from their peak in 2005 when they covered 60% of U.S. consumption. A September report by Colorado-based consulting firm IHS said the shale boom has lowered natural gas prices and created a steadily increasing number of jobs throughout the economy.

The boom will continue for decades, says William Fleckenstein, a petroleum engineering professor at the Colorado School of Mines, which receives funding from the fossil fuel industry. He says major shale regions are performing better than expected. Though well productivity falls quickly after the first year or two, he says the initial gush gives investors a quick payback.

“The technology is going to improve,” he says, adding that forecasts based on shale wells drilled even a few years ago won’t be accurate. He points to EIA data, released in October, that shows how rig productivity has increased over the last year for new oil wells in the Bakken and Eagle Ford and for gas wells in the Haynesville and the huge Marcellus shale, which stretches from New York south to West Virginia.

In the Eagle Ford shale, the University of Texas at San Antonio reported in March that fewer wells will be drilled but total production of both oil and gas will rise considerably by 2022.

New shale regions are also emerging. In the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the production of oil will more than double and that of gas will nearly double by 2025, according to an investor presentation last month by Pioneer Natural Resources, a Texas-based oil and gas company.

How accurate are these projections?

“Tight oil development is still at an early stage, and the outlook is highly uncertain,” says the Department of Energy’s EIA in its Annual Energy Outlook 2013, adding its future will depend on how individual wells perform as well as their costs and the revenue they generate.

The EIA also says it cannot “fully ascertain” the likely impact of technology advances, because many shale wells using the latest technologies have been operating less than two years.

So there are a lot of caveats in its 30-year forecasts. In the most likely scenario, it expects total production of “tight oil” will continue to rise until 2020, then decline. In contrast, it expects shale gas production to increase 113% by 2040, when it will account for half of all natural gas produced.

Even those who are bullish on shale’s prospects say it’s not likely to deliver U.S. energy independence, at least anytime soon.

“We won’t become energy independent, but we’ll become less energy dependent,” says Daniel Yergin, IHS vice chairman and author of The Quest: Energy Security and the Remaking of the Modern World. He says though petroleum imports have fallen dramatically in recent years, they still account this year for 35% of consumption — the same share as 40 years ago.

Hughes says the shale industry’s long-term viability will rest not only on well productivity and market prices but also on its potential damage to the environment. He says rising grass-roots opposition to fracking could thwart its expansion.

As with any energy source, he says shale has economic and environmental costs, adding: “There is no free lunch.”

]]>Three Men Wanted in Alicehttp://thefalfurriasnews.com/2013/10/20/three-men-wanted-in-alice/
Sun, 20 Oct 2013 17:48:23 +0000http://thefalfurriasnews.com/2013/10/20/three-men-wanted-in-alice/Alice police need your help to catch three men who police say were involved in an assault earlier this month. Investigators are looking for Adrian Rene Gonzalez, Ricardo Garza Jr and Matthew Carrillo. According to police, the three are believed to have been involved in an assault that occurred back on October 5th in the […]

Alice police need your help to catch three men who police say were involved in an assault earlier this month. Investigators are looking for Adrian Rene Gonzalez, Ricardo Garza Jr and Matthew Carrillo.

According to police, the three are believed to have been involved in an assault that occurred back on October 5th in the 800 block of Johnson Street. Two other suspects have already been arrested. If you have any information, call the Alice Police Department at 361-664-0186.

]]>Hot Texas Prisons Lead to Deathshttp://thefalfurriasnews.com/2013/10/20/hot-texas-prisons-lead-to-deaths/
Sun, 20 Oct 2013 17:33:33 +0000http://thefalfurriasnews.com/2013/10/20/hot-texas-prisons-lead-to-deaths/Prison case challenges hot conditions in Texas prisons. Fourteen people have died of heat stroke in Texas prisons since 2007, needless deaths the state could prevent with a few air-conditioners, a grieving mother claims in court. Ramona Hinojosa, mother of the late Albert Hinojosa, sued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, its executive director Brad […]

Fourteen people have died of heat stroke in Texas prisons since 2007, needless deaths the state could prevent with a few air-conditioners, a grieving mother claims in court.

Ramona Hinojosa, mother of the late Albert Hinojosa, sued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, its executive director Brad Livingston, the University of Texas Medical Branch, and five other TDCJ officials in Federal Court. UTMB provides health care to 80 percent of Texas prisoners under a partnership with the state.

Hinojosa died in the state’s Garza West Unit in Beeville, where the windows are sealed shut and the “prison housing areas are like an oven,” Ramona Hinojosa says in the lawsuit. But the warden and other officials keep their offices in the prison cooled to a comfortable 75 degrees, she says.

“On August 29, 2012, shortly after midnight, a prisoner told an officer working in Hinojosa’s dorm that he fell out his bed and was suffering convulsions,” the complaint states.

“The officer came to Hinojosa’s bunk, and found him lying on the floor. His skin was hot to the touch, and he was unresponsive. The officer immediately called her supervisor. Because there was no 24-hour medical staff at the prison, the supervisor called 911.

“The ambulance arrived around 1:30 am, and rushed Hinojosa to the hospital. But it was too late. He was pronounced dead at 1:50 am. He was only 44.”

An autopsy showed he died from hyperthermia, a condition brought on when a body produces more heat than it dissipates. The record-breaking heat of 2011 was deadly for Texas inmates: 10 died from heat stroke that year, but officials did nothing about it, Hinojosa says.

“In fact, high-level TDCJ officials did not consider these deaths a problem,” the complaint states. “In fact, in the face of these deaths, one official, who was responsible for overseeing prisons where eight previous deaths occurred, testified TDCJ was doing a ‘wonderful job’ and ‘[didn’t] have a problem with heat-related deaths.’ Thus, defendants took no action to protect future prisoners, like Hinojosa, in the face of TDCJ’s obviously inadequate procedures.” (Brackets in complaint.)

Hinojosa claims the lack of air-conditioning for human inmates is “all the more shocking as TDCJ purchases and maintains climate-controlled swine barns to house pigs raised for slaughter.”

But high-ranking TDCJ officials have said they consider prisoner air-conditioning a “waste of money,” the complaint states.

The Texas Legislature is aware of the issue, Hinojosa says. She claims that in 2011 state representative Sylvester Turner wrote a letter to Livingston “expressing his concern about the high temperatures in TDCJ prisons, that ‘temperatures inside cells have reached as high as 120 degrees during the day and do not fall below 100 degrees at night.’ He asked TDCJ to take ‘any and all preventive measures … to ensure that inmates and guards inside TDCJ do not suffer.'”

Livingston refused to make any changes to the TDCJ’s policies, Hinojosa says. Texas county jails are required to keep indoor temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees, Hinojosa says.

Paul Wright, editor of Prison Legal News, said he agrees with Hinojosa.

“Yes, I think Texas prisons should be air-conditioned to conform with the norms of a civilized society,” Wright said in an email. “I am surprised the guards tolerate it as a working-conditions issue, but then they are only subjected to it 40 hours a week.

“Florida death row prisoners filed a suit over excessive heat a few years ago and lost. But as a practical matter, except for some former Confederate states in the South, like Florida and Texas, who deliberately do not air-condition their prisons to make a sadistic point, the rest of the country has heated and air-conditioned prisons for both the prisoners and the staff,” Wright wrote.

Ramona Hinojosa seeks punitive damages for wrongful death and violations of civil rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act. She is represented by Jeff Edwards of Austin

]]>Texas Mile Returns for 10th Yearhttp://thefalfurriasnews.com/2013/10/20/texas-mile-returns-for-10th-year/
Sun, 20 Oct 2013 17:28:09 +0000http://thefalfurriasnews.com/2013/10/20/texas-mile-returns-for-10th-year/What started as a grassroots motorsports event a decade ago is now one of the nation’s premier speed events for those on four or two wheels. The Texas Mile, now in its third season at Chase Field after being at a Goliad facility the previous seven years, is held twice a year, March and October. The […]

]]>What started as a grassroots motorsports event a decade ago is now one of the nation’s premier speed events for those on four or two wheels. The Texas Mile, now in its third season at Chase Field after being at a Goliad facility the previous seven years, is held twice a year, March and October.

The Texas Mile is open to drivers of sports cars, motorcycles, trucks, and concept race cars. It features professional racers, novices and amateurs alike who all have a need for speed. The competitors and spectators come from over twenty-five different states and all areas of Texas to enjoy this festival of motor sports. The cities of Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi, Rockport, Victoria and Beeville are represented by record holders in various classes, loyal fans and supportive sponsors. An international presence is also represented with some participants and media coming from The U.K., Taiwan, Dubai, Chile, Mexico and Canada.

THE CONCEPT IS SIMPLE: DRIVERS LINE UP and GO AS FAST AS THEY CAN TO OBTAIN a TOP SPEED in ONE MILE.

THE GOAL? Try to top the Mile’s record of 263.3 mph or at least be the fastest car, truck or motorcycle in their vehicle’s class or just to achieve their personal best.

A Ford GT topped the record with a mph of 267 in March and he is back to ensure this potential new record remains standing. He has other competitors back to battle for Texas Mile supremacy.

Motorcycle fans can see some of the fastest people on two-wheels. 5-Time motorcycle land speed record holder, Valerie Thompson (A woman on a mission with the need for SPEED) returns to The Texas Mile on her BMW SS 1000 R. And you can expect speeds of around 250 mph from Hussain Alsowaigh on his Suzuki Hayabusa.

Spectators can witness racers going full throttle and get up close to the vehicles and many of the drivers as they prepare to take down the Texas Mile’s speed records.

Already featured in motorsports media including Speed Channel and Hot Rod Magazine, a new TV Series: GEAR HEADS, will be producing an episode at The Texas Mile 10th Anniversary Event.

This year’s Mile is also taking on the task of inspiring the next generation of motor racing enthusiasts. Students from the Coastal Bend College’s automotive department will shadow the Texas Mile’s Tech and Staging inspection crews to learn more about motor sport safety. Texas Mile co-founder Jay Matus got into auto sports because of the inspiration he received while taking auto tech classes at Texas City High School in the 1980s. The ability to pass along the same passion to a new generation of auto enthusiasts is a way for the J&S Matus Motorsports to pay it forward.

For more media related information on the Texas Mile contact Shannon Matus, 281-802-9863, js(at)jsmatus(dot)com. For more information regarding being a participant or spectator, contact Jessica Reyna, 281-303-1844 or email info(at)texasmile(dot)net.

]]>WellAware Remotely Monitors Eagle Fordhttp://thefalfurriasnews.com/2013/10/20/wellaware-remotely-monitors-eagle-ford/
Sun, 20 Oct 2013 16:52:49 +0000http://thefalfurriasnews.com/2013/10/20/wellaware-remotely-monitors-eagle-ford/Remote monitoring tools in use around Eagle Ford Shale area. Beyond a ranch gate in the middle of a field of wildflowers, Matt Harrison hops from his truck to check equipment just installed at a long-producing oil well. As he walks the sandy site, Harrison passes one piece of gear his new technology just replaced: a […]

Beyond a ranch gate in the middle of a field of wildflowers, Matt Harrison hops from his truck to check equipment just installed at a long-producing oil well.

As he walks the sandy site, Harrison passes one piece of gear his new technology just replaced: a green metal mailbox with chipping paint.

“That’s old school,” Harrison says, tapping the mailbox with his knuckles. Its sits next to large tanks that hold oil and water, and for years the mailbox has been used to hold production sheets, the hand-scribbled notes about how much oil was removed by drivers hauling crude oil.

Harrison hopes his company, WellAware, will make the metal mailbox a thing of the past.

The San Antonio-based startup technology company recently launched a real-time, remote monitoring business in the Eagle Ford Shale. WellAware created software that lets customers track wells, pipelines and other oil field equipment by smart phones, iPads and computers, as well as control oil and gas production remotely.

It uses technology originally designed for the smart meters that utility companies across the country are moving to, which allows them to monitor utility use electronically. WellAware partnered with companies that include GE and Emerson to design and build the hardware needed for the oil field.

The idea is to analyze data to catch equipment problems as soon as they happen, reducing downtime. Ultimately, the data becomes predictive and is able to tell there’s a potential problem — as pressures and other variables change — before the equipment fails.

The technology doesn’t eliminate the need for gaugers and workers to check equipment in person, but Harrison said it can make them more efficient and reduce their drive time, sending them to the places that need attention. “We get a heartbeat of their assets,” he said. “It prioritizes their rounds.”

Because of gaps in cellular service across South Texas, WellAware leased space on 29 towers across the region to make sure that it doesn’t have to rely on another company’s communications network.

Its first customer, San Antonio-based Welder Exploration & Production Inc. tested the equipment and provided feedback. Raymond Welder III said he was a quick convert to the technology.

“We have already recognized financial benefits, improved production efficiencies and increased visibility of our entire asset base in real time,” Welder said in a prepared statement. “WellAware’s technology and its people are game changers.”

Its Eagle Ford network stretches across 24 counties. Next year the company expects to be operating in the Permian Basin in West Texas, where it’s building a similar network. From there it’s looking to expand into other shale fields. Harrison is fielding calls from North Dakota and Canada, where winter weather can sometimes make it challenging to reach well sites.

Harrison, who came to San Antonio about four years ago with InCube Laboratories, an incubator for biotech companies, funded the company himself for several months last year while he pilot-tested the technology. He said his first clients told him, “Don’t mess anything up,” but were happy to let him test the software and hardware on their wells and pipelines.

“That’s what I love about this industry,” Harrison said. “It’s a wildcat mentality.”

When the pilot was successful, Harrison raised $8 million from private investors. WellAware’s board members include Gene Powell, a San Antonio developer and the former chairman of the University of Texas System board, and Leo Quintanilla of Quintanilla Management, an oil-field service company.

By February of this year, the burgeoning company was working out of an apartment. But it recently moved into office space at Zachry Corp.’s headquarters on San Antonio’s North Side.

So far, the company has 15 engineers and about 50 consultants.

The monitoring service costs “one- or two barrels” per month per well site, Harrison said. (Crude oil is selling for around $100 per barrel).

Its target customers include oil and gas exploration and production companies, midstream companies, oil-field services companies and mineral owners.

]]>Border Agents Working… Pay Uncertainhttp://thefalfurriasnews.com/2013/10/04/border-agents-working-pay-uncertain/
Fri, 04 Oct 2013 16:39:51 +0000http://thefalfurriasnews.com/?p=656Fallout from the Congressional budget crisis affects local Federal workers. Border Patrol agents are showing up to work, but their paychecks are in limbo. It all has to do with the government shutdown, and now, agents are worried about their livelihoods. As long as the shutdown continues, it looks like agents won’t know when of […]

]]>Fallout from the Congressional budget crisis affects local Federal workers.

Border Patrol agents are showing up to work, but their paychecks are in limbo.

It all has to do with the government shutdown, and now, agents are worried about their livelihoods.

As long as the shutdown continues, it looks like agents won’t know when of if their next paycheck is coming, but because they’re considered “essential personnel”, they still have to show up to work.

There are some “non-essential personnel”, like maintenance staff, that have been furloughed while the shutdown continues.

Many agents are looking at second jobs just so they can make their monthly bills in case the shutdown drags on.

Union Representative Chris Cabrera tells us the hardest part for the agents is planning because they really haven’t gotten any answers about their pay, and they really don’t know what’s going on.

“You just don’t know where your paycheck is coming from, if it’s coming, when it’s coming. And I think we all understand that eventually, it will catch up, it will get there, but in the meantime, you’re going to have late payments. You’re going to have a lot of agents in financial trouble,” he says.